Oberst and Bridgers Team Up to Build Better Oblivion Community Center

Since bursting on the scene with her acclaimed 2017 record Stranger in the Alps, Phoebe Bridgers has been busy. Aside from touring with her own music, she’s also released an EP and toured with supergroup boygenius with Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker. Conor Oberst has been no stranger to supergroups and collaborative projects himself (remember the excellent 2009 release from Monsters of Folk?). Oberst and Bridgers also have a history of collaboration with each other, having worked together on “Would You Rather” off Bridgers’ Alps.

If you haven’t yet started to connect the dots here, Oberst and Bridgers have embarked on a new supergroup journey together, along with a stellar band that includes Wylie Gelber and Griffin Goldsmith of Dawes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner, among others. Called Better Oblivion Community Center, the band’s surprise self-titled album drop was long suspected by fans. It was hinted at cryptically in the last few weeks with a phone number and brochures for the Center on social media, but kept tightly under wraps.

Written and recorded in the second half of 2018, the record is ultimately a collection of duets. It’s a pretty suite of cozy tunes that feel well-worn, like your favorite old sweater or softest band T-shirt. Both artists are lauded for their songwriting — honest, raw, and intimate — and that shared sensibility is on full display here. The duo co-wrote every song on the album (with the exception of a few that featured some additional co-writers), and they focus on relationships — friendships, family, lovers — and being honest with ourselves. “My City” is the album’s sweetest, dreamiest acoustic pop gem, about a deep longing and love for a place and the people it brought us.

On the melancholy “Service Road” and “Forest Lawn” they reflect on a troubled friend through heavenly harmonies. The guitars turn way up for the catchy rocker “Dylan Thomas” and for the epic build-up of “I Didn’t Know What I Was In For.” Producer John Congleton’s touch is detectable on these songs (he recently produced Sharon Van Etten’s Remind Me Tomorrow), especially in the bigger, almost synthy pop moments like “Exception to the Rule.” The album’s final tune, “Dominos,” seems to levitate sonically from the rest of the record, with a multi-dimensional sound that’s easy to get lost in. And the delicate folksy “Chesapeake” delivers both Bridgers and Oberst at their soft, measured best, singing about the utter joy in listening to your favorite music. It’s a gentle gut-punch that hits the spot.